Author: Eric
HEPA Vacuum Cleaner Orphaned by Miele
The Miele S184 PowerHouse HEPA vacuum cleaner has been orphaned by Miele. They no longer produce the HEPA filter that this model requires. Those of us who spent big bucks not many years ago are now stuck with a machine…
Jilted
I loved my country. For nearly seventy years — since I was old enough to love my country. And now she’s done this to me. That Morning 40 Years Ago
More mistakes about ‘mistakes’ and moral choices: Laura Harner
Having been caught out for publishing plagiarized novels (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/28/prolific-romantic-fiction-writer-exposed-as-a-plagiarist?CMP=share_btn_fb ), Laura Harner used the “M” word euphemism. ‘Responding to the Guardian in a statement, Harner said she realised she had “made mistakes”. “I own them, and I will deal with…
The Word According to Red Smith
Helsinki Olympics, 1952: On the fifth day of boisterous combat, this conclave of gristle had achieved a climax with the second bid for a gold medal by the comical contortionist Emil Zatopek. Four years ago, this gaunt and grimacing Czech…
More Mistakes about ‘Mistake’: Haslem, Farmer, and the Browns
Cleveland.com quotes Jimmy Haslem, “”Ray Farmer knows and has (said to the Browns) he made a mistake in sending those texts.” Come on! If Farmer meant to text person x and punched in the wrong number while distracted by the…
Christian Reformed Church and Big Business
The CRC has not always been in bed with big business: Christian Reformed Tradition Regarding Big Business
Christianity, human origins and sin
An interesting new discussion is occurring concerning the historicity of Adam and Eve and how important it might be for Christian doctrine to insist that they were historical persons. Many Christians are OK these days with accepting the science of…
Henry Ford, the (non-TV) Waltons, and Economic Justice
Very good column about wages and society’s economic wellbeing that my wife Lynn found in The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/29/walmart-downton-abbey-worker-inequality?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487). Prompts me to put forward for consideration an economic argument that I’m not sure I’ve seen anywhere but probably just don’t remember…
Review: the new Cleveland Plain Dealer e-edition
July 13, 2013 Evaluating/reviewing the new e-edition (online version) of the Cleveland Plain Dealer: Great idea. I understand the economics are driving in this direction. And I like seeing the “real paper” better than just the lists of articles as…
Immigration Reform and Conservativism
Today’s NYT reports that the senate is about to pass a bill requiring any and all employers to get Federal approval before hiring someone–under the guise of immigration “reform.” My own Ohio Senator Rob Portman is trying to make the…
“Quickstart Guide: jQuery” full of errors
It amazes me that authors of books on coding languages (PHP, JavaScript, etc) let their books come out with so many errors.To be a successful coder one must be obsessive-compulsive about avoiding typos and other syntax errors. Yet in their…
Marc Hauser’s “Mistakes”
Consider: Marc Hauser, a Harvard University professor, reportedly admits, “I acknowledge that I made some significant mistakes.” He has been placed on leave and been judged by a his university to be “solely responsible” for eight instances of scientific misconduct.”…
That Morning 40 Years Ago
November 5, 2008 Trying to sort out my thoughts and feelings this morning. They keep going back to that morning in 1968, when I walked back up Demptster Street in Evanston after playing tennis with my wife, and turned on…
L-D debate–Ethics and Economic Sanctions
I’ve recently received an unusual number of requests for copies of an old article of mine, “On Shunning Undesirable Regimes: Ethics and Economic Sanctions,” Public Affairs Quarterly 3:2 (April 1989), 15-26. Turns out that the current resolution for the Lincoln-Douglas…
Palin adds to incivility
As reported in the Cleveland PlainDealer, former Alaska governor Palin is contributing to the incivility. She not only called the Obama health care proposal “evil” but made ridiculous claims about an Obama “death panel.” When she asks, “Who will suffer…
Alan Katz also calling out lack of civility
Alan Katz, one of the more prolific bloggers on health care reform has also spoken up against the lack of civility. I don’t think I agree with all of his positions, but his blog seems to provide a lot of…
Paul Krugman on Target
Paul Krugman’s column yesterday in the NYTimes is important to read. He points out the un-American manner in which many are opposing health care via shouting down Members of Congress and even making death threats. He also points out that…
Economics, Justice, and Health Care
Some major points from someone who has trained in both philosophy and economics: Health care insurance exists to protect one against catastrophic loss. Ordinary health care costs should be part of a household’s normal budget, like other “necessities” such as…
Acronym of the decade award
Any other competitors for “Acronym of the Decade” award? EUCALYPTUS = Elastic Utility Computing Architecture for Linking Your Programs to Useful Systems Doc Searls wrote (Linux Journal), “But, why should The Cloud consist only of proprietary back ends? How about…